Cantor: 'A good place to start is with the kids' on immigration reform

The Virginia Republican attempted to humanize his party and discussed agenda items that House Republicans intend to pursue to complement fiscal battles on Capitol Hill. He focused much of his speech on families, referencing family or families 27 times, parent or parents 25 times, child or children 20 times and kid or kids 11 times.

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Granting more visas to highly skilled workers, creating a breakdown of college costs for students and parents, reconfiguring education costs, providing more streamlined federal job training, lowering healthcare costs in Medicare and Medicaid and investing in medical research were among the policy prescriptions that Cantor discussed during the address at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI.

Democrats did not let the speech go unanswered, although not all responses were direct.

President Obama did not mention Cantor's speech but managed to ruffle feathers with his hastily called press conference Tuesday that overlapped with the House majority leader's big moment and drew attention away from the GOP event.

Though Cantor discussed immigration reform, he was short on specifics, other than starting "with the kids," as to how to effectively deal with the burgeoning issue.

"It's no secret that there are more than 11 million people here illegally, many of whom have become part of the fabric of our country. They, like us, have families and dreams. ... A good place to start is with the kids. One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents. It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home," Cantor told a crowded room of reporters and conservative scholars.